KEY POINTS:
Police are investigating a fire that may have been a methamphetamine lab exploding in a Wellington house which saw a man hospitalised with facial burns today.
Wellington chief fire officer Jon Graham said fire fighters were called to a hazardous fire in a kitchen of a house on The Parade in Island Bay, but he would not confirm whether it was a P lab which had exploded.
Neighbours called the fire service just before 1pm this afternoon.
There were three people in the house at the time of the fire, he said. A man received burns to his face and was taken to hospital, police were speaking to another person, and the third had left the scene.
The people in the house and some fire fighters were being decontaminated because it was understood there had been a chemical presence, he said.
"If you're talking about a P lab and I'm not saying this is a P lab then you get a lot of smoke fumes that tend to contaminate a large area."
The fire started in the kitchen and burnt it out, but it was not "too bad" as far as fires went, Mr Graham said.
- NZPA
